


Tatooine Arcade Adventures

by Sissikatz



Category: Back to the Future (Movies), Star Wars - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-30
Updated: 2019-06-12
Packaged: 2019-09-02 16:33:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 14,555
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16790608
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sissikatz/pseuds/Sissikatz
Summary: Set in 1985, Padmé is a senior and finally gets invited to a house party. Will Anakin be attending?"Padmé saw Anakin as he entered through the double doors. Blue jeans, orange vest over his denim jacket and checked shirt, white Nike Bruins, headphones over his golden curls. He was beautiful and had the most amazing blue eyes! She didn’t miss the way other girls noticed him as well; pretty girls, more popular than her, way more. She knew this stupid crush on him was becoming beyond ridiculous."





	1. Death by a Thousand Shirtless Anakins

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Muccimooch333](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Muccimooch333/gifts), [Graendoll](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Graendoll/gifts), [evilgrrl](https://archiveofourown.org/users/evilgrrl/gifts).



> This story is inspired by the Star Wars prequels and Back to the Future.  
> It was originally prompted by a joke between Muccimooch333 and Graendoll (I hope you both enjoy it), though it ended up being completely different from my original idea...
> 
> Big thanks to evilgrrl for proofreading and help editing!

Anakin looked at the clock for what must have been the 100th time that day; it was only 3:15 pm.

Today was proving to be a long one at Tosche Station. It seemed like everyone in town had something urgent to get fixed and was generally grumpy. For the first time since starting this job - over a year ago now, he was wondering if he shouldn’t actually have enrolled at the Jedi College instead of working in an electronics repair shop. Despite his foul mood, Anakin knew he loved this job. It allowed him to learn how to build all his gadgets and it was always rewarding to get broken things to work.

The working area of the shop was a large room at the back, walls laden with shelves and lights at worktops. Appliances were sorted by type in the shop, behind the counter, and then organised by sections. There were TV sets, speakers, amplifiers, radios, cassette radios, Hi-Fi, Walkman, electronic keyboards, LP players, VHS players, table top and handheld games, you name it. Even microwave ovens and compact disc players were starting to be a house staple. This was by far Anakin’s favourite part, and he was relieved when Mr Palpatine’s wife arrived to cover at the counter and send him back in to work on repairs.

At 6 pm on the dot Anakin left the shop, Walkman in tow and riding his skateboard towards the Tatooine Arcade. He stopped right by the front door and jumped out in a swift move, tucking the skateboard under his arm. ‘Take on Me’ by A-ha was blasting full volume and the place was packed with teenagers. Anakin spotted Ben playing Super Mario and headed towards him.

Padmé saw Anakin as he entered through the double doors. Blue jeans, orange vest over his denim jacket and checked shirt, white Nike Bruins, headphones over his golden curls. He was beautiful and had the most amazing blue eyes! She didn’t miss the way other girls noticed him as well; pretty girls, more popular than her, way more. She knew this stupid crush on him was becoming beyond ridiculous; it had been two years now, and he wouldn’t even acknowledge her when she came across him somewhere or she brought in her stereo or Walkman to get fixed at Tosche Station. She had already broken five appliances on purpose, and her father was starting to loose his patience.

“What’s up?” Jade bumped her shoulder.

“Nothing.”

“Why you staring at the wall then?”

“I’m not staring at the wall.” Padmé narrowed her eyes as she turned to look at Jade.

“Ben is checking you out again.” Jade teased before turning back to the screen displaying four ghost figures above the word ’Ready!’, and dozens of dots across a labyrinth, with a single yellow circle.

Padmé looked towards Anakin and Ben, to see Ben Kenobi diverting his eyes back to Super Mario. Why did it have to be Ben looking at her and never Anakin? Why? ‘No such luck’, she thought.

“Can’t wait to get to Mace’s party this Friday. Did you get your costume yet?” Jade asked without looking away from the screen.

“Yeah, need to get to senior year to finally be invited to anything. I’m not sure what to wear yet. Not a fan of Halloween.” Padmé rolled her eyes.

She wondered if Anakin would be going as well.

*

That Saturday, before the party, they had dinner at Jade’s with her parents and younger brother, Han. Afterwards, they went up to her room to get ready.

“No matter how many times I try to do my hair, I can never achieve the desired effect,” Jade complained, sighting while running her hands through her hair. “ I’m just going to put my hair down and wear the hat.”

‘Girls Just Want to Have Fun’ by Cyndi Lauper was playing in the background. Padmé was looking at the mirror, doing her hair while absently pondering if she would even dance tonight.

“I’m so hoping Luke is there tonight!” Jade grinned at her reflection in the mirror while applying layers of black kohl around her eyes.

They had settled for matching dead witch outfits, and Padmé was glad her perm was still in good shape, as it made it easier for her to do the hair, teasing it at the roots to give it volume and make the curls messy.

As they were exiting the room, a tennis ball just missed them. “You look worse than The Exorcist,” Han laughed, shutting his bedroom door behind him.

Padmé froze, staring at the door.

“Han’s a silly kid. We’re choice tonight. Don’t worry.” Jade straightened up her back, grabbed Padmé by an arm and headed downstairs and out of the house.

*

The party was just about to start as they arrived. They had passed small groups heading towards the house as they were driving up the street and the door was open. As they entered the house, they were greeted by Mace’s sister, Jenny, who was in the main room with a group of friends. Small scattered groups were forming across the entry hall and family room. They didn’t know anyone very well, so they decided to just go in the backyard where they could see more people were gathering.

On the way out, someone bumped into Padmé.

“Hey! Watch out where you’re going!” a stifled voice warned.

Padmé looked up and saw a tall dude dressed all in black, with a cape, some panel with buttons across his chest and a Darth Vader mask, behind two other dudes with identical white suits and masks, Stormtroopers or whatever they were called.

“YOU watch out, bucket heads! What do you think you are, some space cowboys?” Jade replied, squinting her eyes before turning away and carrying on walking. Padmé followed.

She spotted Anakin at the far left corner of the garden. He was disguised as a Ghostbusters along with Mace, Ben and Arthur. He looked good in any outfit, his luscious curls crowning his head perfectly. Padmé thought she was going to have a cardiac arrest right there on the spot.

“What’s wrong with you?” Jade enquired just as she followed where Padmé was looking. “Umm, sure...” she muttered as she tilted her head towards Padmé.

“Hello. May I introduce myself? I am Cedric Piot.” a cheerful voice spoke.

“Hello, Cedric. I’m Jade.”

“Hi, I’m Padmé. Where you from? You have a strange accent”

“Oh, I’m from France. I’m here in a student interchange programme. I live with Arthur.”

“Interesting… How do you like it here?” Jade started toying with her hair and looking at Cedric from head to toe.

“I’m enjoying it so much! It was such a wonderful idea to enroll in the programme and get to live in America for a year. Ladies, would care to join me for a drink?”

“Sure.” Jade replied, and they started following Cedric, heading towards Arthur and the four Ghostbusters.

*

“Pretend you’re cool. Don’t look. They are coming our way. The French dude is bringing them over,” Ben mumbled to Anakin.

Was it him, or was it getting hot in here? How was it possible for it to be so warm outside on an October evening?

“Calm down, calm down. You’re getting all red,” said Ben discreetly while looking in another direction.

Anakin tried to focus on another group chatting nearby.

“May I just get some drinks for my friends please?” Cedric passed right through the four of them to get to the drinks table.

Ben stifled a giggle with his drink while Anakin kept starring at the other group.

“Hello, there!” Ben greeted Padmé and Jade.

“Hello.” They both replied at the same time.

“Hello. Welcome to the Party.” Mace smiled.

“Thanks for the invitation, Mace. You guys look ‘phat’ in those suits!” Jade smiled back at him.

“Hi. You alright?” Arthur said with a slight nod.

“Hi…” Anakin finally managed, looking briefly at them, then turning slightly to face Arthur and Mace.

‘He clearly doesn’t even care about talking to me,’ Padmé thought, feeling her heart sink.

Ben was smirking and staring at them with an amused expression.

“What’s so funny?” Jade asked furrowing her eyebrows.

“Nothing. Just saying hi, right, Anakin?” He bumped his elbow, forcing Anakin to look back at him.

“What?” Anakin replied.

“Anakin, don’t you remember Padmé and Jade?” Mace raised an eyebrow.

“Oh, yeah, sure… How you doing? Long time no see…” he stuttered, looking away and then back to them.

“We’re good. Thanks. How about you? Still working at Tosche Station?” Jade asked.

Padmé was dying. She was feeling hot and could tell her cheeks were blushing right up to the tips of her ears.

“There you go, ladies.” Cedric handed them the drinks, two cherry Cokes, and Padmé gladly had a big gulp of hers. She needed to cool down, right now.

“Yes, yes, I’m working there…” Anakin managed to reply, trying his best to look casual.

“How is senior year going?” Ben asked.

“Oh, it’s going fine, I suppose. Well, it just started, so…” Padmé was playing with a strand of hair; she needed to find something to do with her free hand; she would look stupid if she held her Coke with both hands.

“We’re going back in. I need to put some music on to get it started,” said Mace as he and Arthur started walking towards the house.

Cedric didn’t move, and neither did Ben, but Anakin seemed of two minds, looking towards Mace and shifting his weight between his feet.

The sound of ‘I Don’t Wanna Lose Your Love Tonight’ by The Outfield started blasting through the open windows and everyone in the backyard started swaying as the first chords played. That seemed to relax Anakin a bit, and he cracked a smile and started singing with Ben to the first lines of the lyrics. Cedric joined in, but he didn’t quite know it by heart, and his accent made it just hilarious, so the five of them just burst into laughter. From there, it all started to warm up. Ben and Cedric were fun to be around, and they wouldn’t stop having a go at each other, and as the beers flowed, so did the goofing between the two of them.

“You’re an airhead.”

“Oh, bag your face!”

Anakin wasn’t drinking much. He kept a smile on his face and would laugh at the banter. As the night went by, they stayed in the group most of the evening, and, to Padmé surprise, even when Jade spotted Luke and decided to go talk to him, leaving her with Anakin, Ben and Cedric.

At some point, they went outside to get some fresh air, as Ben and Cedric decided that drunk chatting with some girls was a good move. Padmé was now feeling at ease talking with Anakin. They hadn’t talked much so far, as Ben and Cedric were doing most of the talking, but then again, they hadn’t been friends back at school. They were more like acquaintances that would sometimes hang out with mutual friends. And besides, Anakin never seemed to be much of a talker.

“So, how is adult life turning out to be for you?” Padmé decided to start the conversation.

Anakin smiled. “It’s ok. I don’t miss much having to do homework everyday and sit for hours listening to subjects in which I have no interest.”

“Fair enough.”

“Besides, I like my job. I learned so much over there. I love to fix things and understand how they work. Then I can make my own stuff, like gadgets and stuff…”

“Oh, so you are like an inventor?”

“No, no, that’s not… well, maybe I am a bit… I suppose so, I guess.” Anakin felt very hot all of a sudden. What was wrong with him? Why couldn’t he form a simple straight answer anymore? “How is your Walkman by the way?”

“It’s perfectly functioning, like new!” Padme blurted out.

“You’re not very lucky with your small appliances, are you?”

“I’m a bit clumsy. They keep on falling.” She suddenly looked away towards the house. So, he did notice her at the shop and remember after all.

“Padmé, lets bounce!” Jade called her from the door.

“I guess I have to go… so, I’ll see you around?”

“Sure. It was nice to see you. I mean, to catch up…”

“Yeah, it was nice to see you too.” Padme smiled. “Bye.”

“Bye. See you around.”

Padmé stood up and turned her back to him, starting to walk towards Jade.

“Hey, I’m in a Motocross competition next Saturday. Do you want to come over?”

Padmé stopped for a few seconds, and then turned back to him with the most beautiful smile Anakin had ever seen. “I would love to.” And, as she started turning back to go, she whispered: “Later days and better days, Anakin?” Padmé was still smiling and waved bye to him as she turned and walked back towards Jade.

“Later days, better days, Padmé.” He smiled.

When he finally managed to go back in, Anakin couldn’t remember if he had said bye or if he had just stayed there, staring at her, like an idiot.

*

Anakin remembered well Padmé well from school. He had always thought she was beautiful and, as time went by, he had started to grow uncomfortable whenever she was around. He was always worried he would say something stupid to leave him embarrassed. She was out of his league. A brilliant student, from a wealthy family, as opposed to him, an orphan adopted by a local working class family along with Ben. Ben was older, wiser and more outgoing than him, but right now, driving him home drunk, Anakin felt like his babysitter rather than younger brother.

“Did you mash?” Ben looked at Anakin with a cocked eyebrow leaning to his right.

“What? No!”

“So, did you get her number?”

“I don’t need her number.”

“You were so red, Ani. It was hilarious.” Ben laughed.

“Don’t call me that. I’m not 10 anymore.”

“Don’t call you what, Ani?”

Anakin rolled his eyes and focused on the road. There was no point in arguing with a drunk Ben. There was never a point to arguing with Ben in general; he would usually won.

As he parked the car in front of their house, Ben jumped out straight and headed to the front door, stumbling on the flowerpots. His struggle to open the door was completely missed by Anakin, who was still in the car, staring at the wheel and wondering if Padmé had a boyfriend or someone she fancied.

*

It must have been well past 2 am when Padmé finally fell asleep. By then, she had replayed the night in her head about ten times. She tried to read, but found it impossible to focus. When sleep finally found her, she fell into a restless stumble, where she was walking somewhere like a forest- a dead forest. There were none of the usual sounds of nature, and Padmé found that all the trees looked the same as she walked around, grey and without leaves.

Suddenly, she heard a noise like a crow shrieking, and then muffled steps. Padmé turned and saw Anakin walking towards her, a piercing look in his eyes, like flames. He was shirtless and wearing some weird black pants and boots. There was another noise to her left and she looked, to see Anakin again, shirtless and wearing the same bottoms. She looked back in front of her and the same Anakin was still approaching her slowly, but right behind him another two Anakins were coming towards her. She looked right and there he was again, times five, with the exact same clothes, or lack of. She turned around and there were Anakins everywhere surrounding her, multiplying by the second. They were coming from all directions. How many were there? A hundred? Two hundred? Five hundred? Padmé panicked, her heart was drumming against her ribcage, her palms were sweaty and she couldn’t breath.

Was that it? Was she going to die? A death by a thousand shirtless Anakins?


	2. Tosche Station

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Just another day at Tosche Station. Or maybe not...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you evilgrrl, for proofreading my work :)

“No… I’m afraid I can’t fix that printer,” Palpatine said softly as he shook his head slowly. “You need to take it back to where you purchased it, and ask if they can fix it or point you towards someone who can.”

“The shop is too far from here. I don’t have the time. I need it now.” The man ran his hand through his hair compulsively. “It only broke this morning and we are already running late with paperwork.” He stretched his open hand towards the printer on top of the counter.

“We don’t have the experience or training to be able to fix LaserWriter printers yet.” Palpatine calmly placed his open hands on the top of the printer, as if to evaluate it. “I can’t take the risk of damaging it.” He looked up at the other man.

“Come on. I’ve been a client for, like what? 20 years?” The man joined his hands in front of his face as if he were begging. “Can’t you at least have a look? It seems like something’s jammed inside, right behind the paper tray output.”

“Don’t you have an alternative way to print what you need?”

“No. We invested in this printer so we didn’t need to get anything done through third parties. It would take me days to get what I need done elsewhere.”

“I am not experienced with printers in general. However, one of my apprentices might be able to help.” He turned and walked to the door by the end of the counter, opened it slowly and called in: “Armitage, can you please come over here and have a look at this printer?”

A tall, slim young man, with shoulder length, straight red hair and green eyes, came out through the door, following Palpatine.The man got a good look at Armitage from across the counter: he was wearing skinny jeans, and his ‘Tosche Station’ uniform shirt showed a studded belt falling around his hips underneath.

“That kid…” he muttered to himself with a slight headshake.

“I don’t know anything about these.” Armitage held his chin with one hand. “I have never even used one before.” He looked up at the client. “You should definitely take it to a store that sells them; it will be hard to find anyone else to fix it.”

Palpatine looked at Armitage with a raised eyebrow. “Don’t you or your friends use printers to do your music business? I saw some posters around town with you and you friends on them.”

“Not like this. They cost an arm and a leg. None of us has the means to buy one.” He stared at the printer with wide eyes. “We do everything by hand, then get it printed with a photocopy machine.”

“Thanks, Armitage.” Palpatine said dismissively.

Armitage followed the cue and went back to the workshop.

“Sorry, I can’t help you this time.” Palpatine shook his head.

The man picked up the printer with a resigned look and left the shop without a word.

Palpatine placed his hands on top of the counter, as if to rest the weight of his shoulders, and sighed. Of course, he would have liked to help that client. He would have made his day with this one job alone. That man was desperate. He was losing money by the hour because he couldn’t do his work properly. He would have said yes to any reasonable sum to have it fixed that same day. Nonetheless, Palatine couldn’t have risked damaging such expensive equipment.

He felt tired and old all of a sudden. He had worked in this business for over 40 years now. It was all he had ever known since he’d left school at the age of 17.

“The good old days.” He whispered as his mind drifted back in time to when Mr. Plagueis had offered him a position as an apprentice at his repairs shop. It had been a great opportunity for Palpatine, and he had taken a liking to the business from day one. 

“Of course he chose you to get the training. You are his favourite. Everyone knows,”the other employees would sneer at him every time Mr Plagueis showed Palpatine something new.

Within a year of starting to work at Mr. Plagueis's repair shop, Palpatine had been promoted to Assistant Manager, right arm to Mr. Plagueis himself. In charge of handling the till, customer complaints and checking the clock in and out times of his colleagues. The administrative part was by far his favourite. Counting the money in the till every evening, and adding up the figures to be checked by the accountant.

Palpatine almost felt sorry as he remembered how he went on to open his own business, taking all the best clients from old Mr Plagueis with him. Almost.

“A man’s gotta to do what a man’s gotta do,” he said to himself.

Palpatine frowned as he watched a group of kids walking by outside. All of them were dressed in bright neon colours, the girls with what looked like hideous perms on display with weird hairstyles. He shook his head.

He thought about Anakin and Armitage. What was it about boys nowadays? Apprentices like he had been were hard to come by these days. In the old times, the boys would be willing to learn everything and work hard, competing between themselves to be ahead of the game. Now, they just came over and did what there was to be done. Clock in and clock out.

Fair enough. These last few years, it was becoming hard to keep up with all the new technology coming out. He couldn’t remember a time when so much tech had evolved so much in such a short period of time. That was good in a sense, because it meant more business for him. On the other hand, he was having a hard time keeping up with the new technology. When he was their age, the repairs were mostly TV sets and radios; now there were all sort of domestic appliances to be fixed.

These boys, however, didn’t have a passion for the trade. They would work hard when he needed a job done, that was a fact - but they would not go that extra mile. They had all these hobbies that he could not understand: bikes, skateboards, music… They were still watching 12-year-old movies featuring spaceships, space soldiers, weird people dressed in cloaks brandishing some kind of shiny swords, fireman catching ghosts, teenagers time traveling with a car… Even Anakin was copying the style of the protagonist of that movie now, for goodness sake. Yesterday, Palpatine had driven his wife to the mall, and in a hot minute, he had seen at least a handful of kids wearing a damned orange vest, blue jeans and white sneakers.

Then there was this wave of crazy music going on. Rockers, or whatever they were called. Armitage was into it. Long hair, tight pants… Palpatine shook his head.

He couldn’t decide which was worse: Armitage with his music or Anakin with his dirt bikes. They were costing him a fortune, and they were dangerous. Plus, he could get in trouble over those illegal races. He rolled his eyes. It was better to pretend he did not know about them.

Those hobbies would never make a decent living. Why they could not understand this yet at their age was beyond him. It would be wiser for them to channel all that energy and time into their jobs, learning more, and getting ahead of the game.

Outside, two girls all dressed in black were passing by, with black, big hair, studded neck collars, their eyes and eyebrows all lined with black makeup.

“It only gets worse…” He shook his head and took out a stack of invoices from under the counter, proceeding to start organising them by due date. “And I used to think that it couldn’t.”

*

“What was it about?” Anakin asked, once Armitage had closed the door behind him.

“A printer. One of those new ones, the laser printers.” He narrowed his eyes. “There is no way I would have opened it to have a look. If I damaged that printer by accident, it would cost me at least 3 months' worth of pay checks.” He ran his hand through his hair shifting his bangs to the right as he sat at his workstation.

“Are you staying late today as well?”

“No. Today I can’t stay late. I have rehearsal.” Armitage turned on the light above his head and focused on the hairdryer he was about to open. “P. Amidala,” he read the label. “I know this name… we get stuff from this family quite often. They must be very clumsy because the problems are usually damage caused by a fall. Lucky for them, they are loaded.”

Anakin narrowed his eyes and tried to focus on the speaker sitting on his worktop. “I’m staying late today. There is no way I’m going to manage to have all of this done by 6 pm. Besides, I need the extra cash to get a new bike.”

“You said you got yours last year…”

“Yes, but it wasn’t brand new and is already out-dated.”

Armitage looked at the door, then around the workshop. His other two colleagues were out, one smoking and the other running an errand. He leaned forward towards Anakin.

“Assuming he pays you that overtime anytime soon.” Armitage waggled his eyebrows.

“Yeah, I know… Overtime for September was only paid last week.”

“I still have some overtime from last year that hasn’t been paid.” Armitage chuckled. “I’m trying to take an extra day off to make up for it. But what he did pay bought me that guitar.” Armitage was looking inside the hairdryer, now open. “And this one looks like it was dropped as well, several times. I’m telling you, this family must be very clumsy.”

Since the weekend, Anakin had been trying hard not to think about Padmé. That night, after the party, he'd had trouble falling asleep, replaying the whole night over in his mind to try and figure out if he had done or said anything silly. He thought it had been okay. However, he wasn’t sure if it had been a good idea to invite her to the race. What if she didn’t like motocross? What if he was a disaster during the race on Saturday?

What was bothering him the most was the dream he’d had that night, when he finally fell asleep. He dreamt he was in a black forest, wandering around. He did not know why he was there and had the impression he was going around in circles. At some point, he had realised he was shirtless and wearing some weird black pants and boots. Then he saw her. Padmé was there. She turned around and saw him. It was like if he had scared her off, and she just vanished.

“Anakin? Are you with us?” Armitage was staring at him chuckling. “Did you hear any of what I just said?”

“No.” Anakin frowned without moving his eyes from the speaker. “I was thinking about what I forgot to write about in my diary.” He was blushing.

“A diary?” Armitage furrowed his eyebrows.

“Yes. It’s a motocross diary. It helps me to keep track.”

“Oh… makes sense.” He arched his eyebrows and nodded to himself.

*

“Padmé. Please come back to us.”

Padmé felt her cheeks starting to get hot as she snapped back to reality. She had zoned out during a class again.

A blur of faces were looking back at her and giggles could be heard from the last row of tables in the classroom.

A tall and very slim figure was standing by the blackboard. She was wearing a knee length, checked dress with huge shoulder pads, and grasping her hands in front of her stomach. This month, Holdo was sporting bright red hair. Some students would call her rainbow lady and others would even place bets about which colour Holdo would dye her hair next.

“Stay with us, Padmé,” Holdo said with a soft voice. “We were about to start reading.” Holdo unclasped her hands slowly. “Jade, your turn.”

Jade sighed before starting to read. Oblivious, as usual, Holdo simply stood there watching the class with a soft smile.

Padmé had known Holdo all her life. She was one of her mother’s best friends, since their childhood. Not once had Padmé ever heard Holdo raise her voice. At school or in her private life, Holdo always kept a calm posture. She would lighten up any room she entered without saying a single word. It was her magnetic personality. She was the most graceful person that Padmé had ever met, almost as if Holdo came from another world.

There wasn’t a single student that could get on her nerves even when Holdo surely had overheard them joke about her hair.

Padmé had seen pictures of her in the late sixties, when Holdo was in her early twenties: very long blond hair with headbands, round sunglasses and always wearing colourful patterned outfits.

Holdo just stood there, by her desk, an almost ethereal figure, while Jade read.

 _…“Sit for hours listening to subjects in which I have no interest.”_ Padmé’s mind started drifting again. This time she stopped and focused back on her class, glancing towards the teacher. Holdo was watching her now.

Padmé looked down at her book and tried to catch up. Since the party last weekend, she’d had a hard time keeping Anakin out of her mind. She still couldn’t believe that they had actually spent the whole time together. And then there was that weird dream… She didn’t know what to make of it. The last that she could remember was that Anakin stopped when he saw her and simply stayed there, staring at her. After that, she had woken up, gasping for breath as her heart raced fast.

“Good. That was much better than last time, Jade,” Holdo nodded with a slight smile. “Now, I would like you to take note of the following questions I am going to write.” Holdo turned towards the blackboard and picked up a white chalk.

“Oh, God, that was heavy,” Jade whispered to Padmé while rolling her eyes. “Too deep for me.”

*

Everyone had left, except Palpatine, who was now locked in the windowless cubicle he called his office, counting the cash for the day and comparing it against the receipts.

Anakin was still working on a tape player, which was jamming every single cassette put into it.

“You are evil,” Anakin said to the player while he removed a cassette and picked up a pen to roll the tape back.

He inserted the cassette back in. It played for about five seconds before jamming the player again. “I would love to leave soon, little buddy.” He knew he wouldn’t. He would have to open that damn tap player and replace the deck. This stereo was booked for picked up tomorrow and he couldn’t just leave it. It was due to be picked up tomorrow, and he couldn’t just leave it.

“Come on, buddy, let’s do it.” He tried to eject the cassette, but now it was stuck inside. “Oh great. I’m just going to open it and get done with this.”

He searched around with his eyes, but couldn’t find the screwdrivers.

“The box was right here… Where has it gone now?”

The only light was the one above his work station. Most of the room was in total darkness now that it was night outside. He stood up and tried to think where he last saw it. Was it Armitage who was using it, right next to him? He wasn’t sure anymore… The day had been busy and a blur to him. It might have happened this morning or this afternoon, hard to tell now.

It was then that Anakin heard it: a rattling noise, coming from across the room. It was brief, lasting for about two seconds only. 

“Is that a mouse?” He crinkled his nose and squinted his eyes.

The rattling started again. Louder and longer this time. Anakin furrowed his eyebrows. The rattling stopped.

“What the heck?”

There, it started again. It was a metallic noise, as if someone were shaking a box of screws. It was coming from across the room. Anakin moved slowly in that direction. Then he saw it. It was the small screwdriver box and it was shaking, as if it had a will its own. He could only see the outline of the box on the top of a shelf. There was nothing else around. The box was moving on its own. It was as if it were responding to him.

Anakin stretched his arm to reach for it. The box tilted slightly before it stopped moving altogether. He felt a cold shiver up his spine and swallowed before gathering the courage to pick up the box and open it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Both Armitage and Holdo are played by two actors I absolutely love. I had to add them to this story.
> 
> I see Armitage's character more like Domhnall Gleeson is in real life, as opposed to Hux. Hence my choice of name for the character.
> 
> Palpatine remains despicable in any Universe...


	3. The Race

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Did you bring that piece of junk again?” Biff was staring down at Anakin with a grimace, arms crossed across his chest.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A big thank you to evilgrrl for helping me out publishing this chapter and supporting me.
> 
> Writing this fic has brought me a lot of smiles and good memories. I hope my readers will find the same. It's meant to be light hearted and fun.
> 
> Biff is as much of a bully in here as he is in Back to the Future.

“What’s up?” Ben looked up as he closed the tool box.

“Nothing…” Anakin furrowed his eyebrows and looked away.

“I sense that you are restless tonight… Did anything happen to you at work?”

“No. I am just getting worried about the race this Saturday. I didn’t get to practice enough this week…”

Ben stood up as he wiped his knees with his hands. “Is that all?” He raised an eyebrow. “That doesn’t sound like you.”

“Yes. That’s all. You know how this is important to me.” Anakin focused on his bike as he checked the oil.

“You don’t have to do it,” Ben said as he shook his head with a concerned expression. “Sometimes, if we are not ready, it’s better not to do it.”

“No. I have to do it. I can’t give up now.”

“Anakin, it doesn’t mean you are giving up if you miss one race. If you don’t feel it, don’t do it.” Ben shook his head. He didn’t like the races. Anakin knew it even though they had never actually brought up the subject.

“The race is in less than three days’ time. It’s too late to cancel.” He stared at Ben. 

“If you are completely positive you are prepared, then do it. But, if you are in doubt, is not too late to change your mind.” Ben opened the shed’s door, “Besides, if anyone is not happy about your change of mind, they will have to deal with me.” He smirked before he left, closing the door behind him.

Anakin stared at the closed door for a moment with a matching grin. Ben was his brother. No matter what, he would always stick up for him. He trusted him, and Ben trusted him back. Well, at least most of the time. Ben had like a sixth sense that knew when Anakin was up to something. This time, however, Anakin didn’t think that Ben would believe him. There was no point telling him.

It had been bothering Anakin all night. He’d tried to find an explanation for what had happened with that box at work, but he simply couldn’t explain how it had moved. 

He didn’t see any mice. It couldn’t be something shaking the wall, or else everything on the shelves would have been shaking as well. And it wasn’t from inside the box. When he opened it, there were only three screwdrivers inside. Nothing else. - He had breathed a sigh of relief, up until now, he was still feeling apprehensive. He didn’t imagine it. It had happened. He was sure.

Anakin checked the time and shook his head, it was past 11 pm. “I can’t believe it is so late already.”

He finished tidying up his gear, then exited the shed that was his own workshop / garage, double checking he had locked both padlocks. 

*

Padmé looked around to make sure nobody was listening to their conversation. No one was. It was lunch time; the mess hall was packed with noisy teenagers all focused on their own group of friends.

“I’ll say that I will be at your house to work on a school project.” Padmé shrugged.

“And I tell my parents that I’m at yours?” Jade lifted her eyebrows while waggling a chip with one hand, “You are terrible at this. I can tell that you never lie to your parents.”

“Do you have a better idea?”

“Yes. We will need to find a cover for a few hours,” Jade took a bite of her chip, “We could tell them that we are going to the mall and to the movies.”

“Hmmm… Ok, we could say that. Is the race that long?” Padmé widened her eyes.

“You need to get to the race, then back to town. We’ve got to arrive early to get a good view. That all adds up.”

Padmé bit her lip. “Good point. I didn’t think of arriving early.”

“It’s going to take all afternoon. Unless you don’t want to see the whole thing. We could leave as soon as the race is over and skip the prize part at the end.”

“I wouldn’t get to see Anakin if I left the race early.”

“We need the whole afternoon then.” Jade furrowed her brow. “The mall is across town from the race. How are we going to get there if we’re supposed to be dropped and picked up from the mall?

“Oh, yeah… My mom will insist in doing that.”

“We need to find a ride.”

*

Padmé and Jade stopped for a moment, staring at the red-haired guy at the wheel of the old Honda Stepvan in the parking lot. 

He was wearing sunglasses and a black leather jacket with its sleeves rolled up showing his very pale, slender arms. His hair was long and straight, just past his shoulders. Armitage was busy with the radio, swapping cassettes and fiddling with the buttons.

“Hi!” Jade said as they approached the open window.

Armitage looked up, then lifted his sunglasses to the top of his head. 

“Hi”, they repeated in unison.

“Let’s bounce. We don’t want to be late.” He tilted his head.

They both hurried in. Jade took the front seat. She glanced at Armitage a few times during the 10 minutes trip: he was wearing skinny blue jeans and white Nike Jordan; a bit dirty.

“Is it the first time you girls are going to the races?” He glanced at Jade.

“Yes. What about you?”

“Me, too.”

He pulled up by an old derelict warehouse. Oddly, the parking lot was full.

“Well, I guess its popular,” Armitage said as he looked at small groups of people walking out of the warehouse area and into the woods. Most of them looked about his own age or older; there were a few younger people, probably about the girls’ age.

He did not want to hang out with the girls. Anakin had asked him yesterday to give them a lift because Ben couldn’t do it. He had to go early with Anakin to help get him ready. Armitage couldn’t say no to Anakin, because that meant saying no to Ben, and Ben had helped him out more than a few times over the years. Anyway, he had already decided he was going today before they even asked him to do this. Besides, there would be more friends joining them.

Mace waved from the distance. Arthur and Cedric were with him.

“Hi, what’s up? Long time no see…” Mace high fived Armitage.

“Been busy. You know, between work and rehearsals I don’t have much spare time left.”

“Yeah, I saw that you have a gig soon. That’s great!” Mace clapped his hands. “We will be there.” He gestured between him, Arthur and Cedric.

“Thanks! Tell everyone you know to come to the gig.” Armitage smiled.

“I will bring as many people as I can,” Mace grinned. “Girls, are you going as well?”

“Wh…” Padmé started talking but Jade elbowed her.

“Of course, we are!” Jade nodded.

“Where is Ben?” Armitage asked.

“Right there, helping Anakin get ready.” Mace pointed towards them. They were with all the other bikers, a few yards away.

*

“Did you bring that piece of junk again?” Biff was staring down at Anakin with a grimace, arms crossed across his chest.

Anakin stood up and looked Biff in the eyes, “This piece of junk did pretty well last time, when I won. You were what, third place?” he smirked. “Did you like your t-shirt?”

Biff pointed a finger at Anakin while clenching his jaw.

“Go mind your own business.” Ben was now standing right by Anakin, his hands curling into fists at his side.

Match was mirroring Ben’s position, right by Biff’s side.

“I’ve got very important stuff to deal with right now,” Biff frowned, “I’ll see you later.”

Biff and Match glanced at each other and with tight-lipped smiles, then walked away.

“Don’t let them get to you.” Ben lightly patted Anakin’s shoulder.

*

Jade looked down at Armitage’s white Nikes; which were smeared with dirt. Armitage looked back at her.

“You dressed for the occasion,” Jade said with a smirk.

Armitage stared her in the eyes for a few seconds, then looked back at the track. 

“Is it starting anytime soon?” Padmé asked.

“Yes. Anytime now,” Mace replied.

Armitage furrowed his eyebrows and shifted his weight between his feet. Ben stopped what he was doing as something drew his attention. Armitage followed Ben’s gaze.

*

“Did he just do it?” Ben narrowed his eyes. Match had put something in Biff’s carburettor. He was sure.

“Do what? Who?” Anakin asked with a puzzled expression.

A megaphone called all the racers to line up. Every biker started throttling towards the starting line. Anakin followed.

“Nice junk, Anakin,” a voice shouted from Anakin’s left. He ignored it, but he could still hear a few of the other bikers laughing. Anakin lined up at the starting line and looked ahead, waiting for the flag to be dropped.

The flag waved three times, then dropped.

The sound of the engines accelerating filled the track and the crowd cheered. Despite Anakin’s bike being the oldest of all, it picked up speed very quickly. Today, however, as if by magic, Biff sped right past him. It was so fast that he wowed the audience. Anakin couldn’t believe it.

They were about a third of the way through when Anakin managed to catch up with Biff. They glanced at each other briefly before focusing back on the track. At the end of the first lap, Anakin had narrowly managed to cross the finish line first.

By the time they started the second lap, Biff was visibly vexed. His face had gone completely red, and he was looking angrily at Anakin. He did not manage to accomplish such a fast start as he had on the first lap, which puzzled Anakin for a couple of seconds, before he had to focus back on the way Biff was catching up with him. 

Now they were side by side, quickly squinting at each other as they sped around the track. Biff got closer to Anakin and growled. He was nearly touching him. Anakin picked up speed on a slope and managed to do a block pass, effectively slowing Biff down. 

Anakin focused back on the track. Suddenly he caught a glimpse of Biff’s bike to his left, dangerously close to his own. He managed to move a bit over to his right, only to see that Biff was approaching again very closely. This time he was forced off track to avoid a collision. As he hit the gravel, Anakin tried to remain upright, but there was a bend in the path. The next thing he knew, he was that he was flying right into the woods, tree trunks moving fast towards him.

“This is it,” he thought.

*

Jade was about to ask Armitage if he was a head-banger in order to tease him for about the 10th time since they’d gotten there. She stopped as she saw his face changing from neutral to wide eyed to horrified.

“No!” Padmé shouted.

She felt a commotion around her and turned her face to see that Mace was running towards the track.

*

All movement stopped. There was total silence. Anakin felt as if he were moving in slow motion. He could see a tree trunk approaching gradually directly in front of him. He headed to the right and slowly managed to steer around it, as if he were simply throttling through the woods, right in mid-air. 

Anakin started to go down, as if he were going to land. A fallen tree was right across his path. He made as if to jump over, pulling the front of the bike up. The bike followed his movement and jumped over the fallen tree, landing swiftly.

That same second the bike picked up speed, everything started moving fast again, and Anakin could hear the roar of the crowd and the other bikes. He saw the track. It was right in front of him. He joined back in, managed to get right in front of Biff, and a few moments later, he was passing the finish line. First again.

The audience was ecstatic in a standing ovation.

Biff stopped his bike. He got off and proceeded to repeatedly smash his helmet against his bike.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Did you know that Match was played by Billy Zane? Neither did I... Just found out when I researched about Biff's friends. He was very young then.


	4. Something Else

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "...that sensation, the static electricity-like current, was turning into something that became clearer to him: It was not only surrounding them, it was circulating through them as well. As if it were binding them. As if they somehow were connected to each other."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you evilgrrl for being my Beta :)
> 
> It has taken me ages to finally update... Life has kept me very busy lately, but I'm planning to update more often from mid/late April.
> 
> This fic was originally meant to be only one chapter… However, by the time I had completed it, the original idea had developed into a story with a longer plot and more characters, and it kept growing as I wrote the following chapters. I have now an outline and will soon add an estimated chapter count.

Padmé’s heart must have stopped for a few seconds when she saw Anakin going off the track. Or at least that’s how it felt: a quick and unexpected stabbing pain. Everything around her became blurred and silent. All she could see was Anakin disappearing through the trees.

What she felt next, though, happened slowly.

At first there was the exasperation of not being able to do anything. She’s pretty sure that she cried out. Or tried to, but no sound came out.

Next, a choking sensation as she gasped for air. Followed by a strange feeling of calm and confidence. She couldn’t understand where it came from, or why. Then air filled her lungs and she took a deep breath. Relief spread across her chest.

It was then that she knew: Anakin would come out through the other side just fine. 

Padmé ran towards the finish line, bumping into the gobsmacked people along the way.

Time felt right again. Everything around her started happening at a normal speed. The crowd and race sounds rang in her ears once more.

Suddenly, the motionless faces in the audience turned from goggle eyed and slack-jawed to a standing ovation. A wave of excitement rushed through the crowd. Some people were jumping, others clenching their fists and shouting.

A cloud of dust hit Padmé as she approached the track. Anakin was crossing the finish line. First place again.

She could make out ‘yes’ and ‘yeah’ amongst the shouts.

Biff arrived second and stopped in a dramatic move, producing a shower of dirt that sprayed Anakin, the race organisers and a couple of other bikes arriving just behind. He took off his helmet and started thrashing his fallen bike with it. The crowd’s shouts turned to laughter. Two of the organisers ran towards Biff and started to argue with him. 

*

Palpatine straightened up quickly and lifted his chin as he saw Senator Leia Organa entering through the shop’s door. 

It had been months since he last saw her. But it could as well have been years, and her presence would still have had the same effect on him. She made him feel uneasy. Scrutinised.

“Good morning, Senator Organa.” He slightly bowed his head while giving her a polite smile.

“Good morning, Mr Palpatine.” Leia replied with a slight nod. “Is my hairdryer ready by any chance?”

“Yes, it is Senator. Let me get it for you.” He turned back to the shelves behind the counter and swiftly picked up the hairdryer. “Good as new.” He slowly placed it on the top of the counter.

The back door slammed open and Anakin stormed in, holding a Walkman with a tag attached to it. “There’s nothing wrong with…” he froze as he recognised who was standing across the counter.

“Nothing wrong with what, Anakin?” Palpatine raised both eyebrows.

Senator Organa was staring back at him, arms clasped behind her back.

“Good morning, Senator Organa.” Anakin diverted his eyes towards Palpatine and slightly bowed his head. “With this Walkman, Mr Palpatine. Poor quality batteries, that’s all.”

“Leave it there. I will contact the client.”

There was a palpable tension in the air; Anakin could sense it. He felt hot and the palms of his hands were sweating. It was as if there were static electricity surrounding the three of them. 

How could he be feeling this? He couldn’t tell, but it wasn’t due to his surprise in seeing the Senator. That much he knew. The initial shock had worn off as he realised that she was there to collect the hairdryer and not to discuss anything related to Padmé attending an illegal race last Saturday. This feeling though? This was something else.

Palpatine and the Senator were both staring at him. The Senator had a tight-lipped smile. Palpatine narrowed his eyes.

That initial feeling of hotness had now become a sensation of warmth. And that sensation, the static electricity-like current, was turning into something that became clearer to him: It was not only surrounding them, it was circulating through them as well. As if it were binding them. As if they somehow were connected to each other.

“Anakin, do you need anything else?” Palpatine said in a higher than usual pitch. 

“No. That was all.” Anakin shook his head and looked at his feet, then at the Senator. “Have a good day, Senator Organa.” He nodded then turned back on his heels quickly, vanishing through the door.

Palpatine and the Senator looked at each other, then looked at the closed door and back at each other. The Senator tilted her head slightly to the side as she narrowed her eyes staring right at Palpatine.

*

“Did you see a ghost out there?” Armitage lifted his head from behind a TV set, holding a cable in each hand and staring slack-jawed at Anakin, who was standing against the door he had just shut behind him, pale as if he were about to faint.

“No,” Anakin managed after a few seconds, “it was Senator Organa”.

Armitage burst into laughter.

“That’s not funny at all.” Anakin furrowed his eyebrows and looked away, walking swiftly to his working station.

“That’s worse than seeing a ghost then. I mean, for you…” Armitage chuckled.

Anakin searched frantically with his eyes for something new to start working on. He had finished his work with the Walkman, or rather testing it, and hadn’t lined up what to fix next.

Armitage was still laughing, a big belly laugh, and hiding behind the TV set. Across the room, Maul had turned around to face them, arms crossed across his chest and silent as always.

Anakin didn’t know what was worse, a laughing Armitage or a silent Maul staring at him. He was feeling angry. His hands started curling into fists and he was clenching his jaw compulsively.

A sudden movement to his right caught his attention. His eyes widened. 

Was a shelf full of stuff falling? It was. One side gave way, but a split second later, it landed quietly on a work station, touching the surface rather softly for a loaded shelf. None of the small appliances on it fell down either.

Anakin saw Maul moving slowly across the room towards it, then starting to pick up the small appliances one by one, then placing them safely on the work counter. Anakin joined Maul and together they put the fallen shelf back in place. The brackets had simply given away due to the weight of the shelf. Anakin found it odd. 

He felt a peculiar current coming from Maul, as if Maul were somehow reassuring him, leading him. Maul wasn’t just being professional or sympathetic towards Anakin. This was something else… This was starting to feel like what he had felt just minutes earlier, passing between him, Palpatine and the Senator.

By the time that they had finished fixing the shelf and checking that all the appliances on it were okay, or at least had no sign of further damage, Armitage seemed to have forgotten about how funny it was that Senator Organa had been in the shop and scared the hell out of Anakin. In fact, Armitage was deeply absorbed in his task of fixing the TV set. He couldn’t find the problem and was now talking to himself while trying to figure out what else he could do about it.

Anakin looked across the room to make sure that he and Armitage were on their own. They were. Both Maul and Peavey had gone on their lunch break. 

He approached Armitage slowly, looking for that energy current feeling he’d had had earlier with the others. Nothing. 

Anakin moved even closer to Armitage. “Have you checked the power button?”

“Yes. It was broken, so I replaced it.” Armitage stroked his chin, staring at the TV set.

“OK, what about the power cable?” 

“It doesn’t look damaged. But you’re right; maybe it isn’t well connected anymore.”

“Yes, just because the power button is broken it doesn’t mean it was the only issue.”

“Definitely. They might have broken it by trying to force the switch on the TV.” Armitage raised his eyebrows.

Anakin stood up and walked towards the shelves by Peavey’s workstation. “Let’s try with a new cable.”

As they both worked together on switching the power cables, just like he had done with Maul earlier, Anakin looked for that undercurrent feeling, but nothing was coming from Armitage. 

“He doesn’t have it.” The thought simply lit up in Anakin’s mind.

He would try and do the same with Peavey that afternoon. Yet, somehow, he already knew that Peavey didn’t have it either.

*

“Thank the stars that she didn’t ask anything about it.” Palpatine sighed, keeping a straight face as he watched Leia getting into her parked car across the street.

She shot a last piercing glance at him before pulling out, then sped down the road.

There had always been something about the way the Senator looked at him that left Palpatine with an uneasy feeling. Maybe it was the way she tilted her head while keeping her piercing eyes locked on his. Something that nobody else had ever managed to do to him. Those brown eyes, so ancient and knowing. It was as if they stripped down all his barriers and could find the secrets he so desperately hid. She’d always had that quality, even as a child.

This time, for the first time ever, he was glad that she had just stared him in the eye than talk about what had just happened.

He had always known the potential within Anakin. This was the real reason why he had offered him the position as apprentice. He had not needed another one; he already had enough staff and the revenue didn’t justify an extra person on the payroll. Nonetheless, he felt the need, the call, to take Anakin under his wing. 

He knew the others knew. This was part of their mutual unspoken understanding. 

However, how did the Senator not know about it? Couldn’t she feel it before? It was a small town, she had a daughter around the same age as Anakin. For sure she had been close to the boy on several occasions in the past at school events. 

She had felt shocked, surprised, and amazed at the boy just before. Yes, surprised. He felt that much emanating from her. 

She did not know before today.

Palpatine needed to find out at all costs why she did not know and why she had never been able to feel it before. He reached to his right and picked up the handset of his phone, dialling the same old number, so familiar that he didn’t even need to look at the buttons to key in the numbers.


	5. An Old Friend

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "I see that you even own Japanese whisky. Most impressive. You know how I admire your commitment and persistence. Not only towards whisky, but to all the things you put your passion into." Palpatine turned his head towards Grievous. "However, to me, Earth’s whisky remains quite generic to my palate. I miss our old choice."
> 
> "That choice is no longer ours. The little I managed to salvage was finished a long time ago." Grievous coughed. "We must make the best of what we have now," (…)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A huge thank you to evilgrrl for being my Beta and proofreading my work. Your support means a lot to me :)

"Don't worry. I'm not adding Anakin's name." Jade smirked as she wrote down names on the little paper  
fortune teller.

"Not that it matters. He's clearly not into me." Padmé furrowed her brows and focused on the magazine she was reading, laying on her tummy on Jade's bed.

"So, why do you think he invited you to watch him race last Saturday?"

"I don't know. To have more people there supporting him?" Padmé shook her head.

"I don't think he needs to do that. Besides, why go through all that trouble to find us a ride?"

Padmé shrugged, keeping her eyes on the magazine.

"You should just call him. Or go see him at the Arcade. He's there most evenings. You know that." 

"He didn't give me his number."

"As if he needs to." Jade giggled.

Padmé threw the magazine at Jade. It landed right on top of her hands.

"Oi! I lost the count. Now I have to start it all over again." Jade started over her rhymes while opening the fortune teller in alternated positions. "Diamond." She opened that corner and the name Armitage was written underneath. "Oh! You got to be kidding me." She smiled a tight lipped smile.

"Show me." Padmé stood and came around the bed, bursting into laughter as she saw the name Jade was pointing to. "No way!"

"For the record, I wrote down his name because I was missing one. He's not my type. You know that"

A grunt surprised them both. Outside the open bedroom door, in the corridor, Han was standing with one arm lifted towards the ceiling, looking at them and wearing his only Underoos.

"Oh, get out!" Jade slammed the door in Han's face.

A scream came out of the corridor followed by repeated banging on the door.

"I hate you!" Hans’ muffled voice was screaming from the other side.

"Me too. Now we’re even. Go away!" Jade shouted.

*

"Whisky?" Grievous gestured towards the mini bar shelves in the corner of the living room.

"No, thank you." Palpatine contemplated the shelves, hands clasped behind his back. "You have a remarkable selection."

"Thank you. I've been collecting them for years. Some of these bottles are very hard to find in this country. I had to have them imported."

"I see that you even own Japanese whisky. Most impressive. You know how I admire your commitment and persistence. Not only towards whisky, but to all the things you put your passion into." Palpatine turned his head towards Grievous. "However, to me, Earth’s whisky remains quite generic to my palate. I miss our old choice."

"That choice is no longer ours. The little I managed to salvage was finished a long time ago." Grievous coughed. "We must make the best of what we have now," he said in his deep voice as he trailed off to the velvet high-backed chair by the window, sitting with some difficulty. 

Palpatine sat in the other velvet chair, at the opposite end from the French doors. He contemplated Grievous for a moment: yellowish eyes staring at the garden outside, a deep scar across his right brow, a very slim frame and curved back. Grievous coughed again. He was getting weaker very quickly. As he was now, Grievous seemed a frail shadow in this old living room, in this house Palpatine had known for decades now.

In fact, Palpatine was no more than a boy the very first time he had set foot within these walls. Only a few Earth years separated him from Grievous, who had been a strong young man full of life then. Thanks to his passion and dedication, Grievous had achieved a high-ranking position at a very young age and he wore his uniform and medals with a proud demeanour day in day out.

How fast time had passed since that day, taking along all the youth and strength they used to have. 

Palpatine felt a hint of worry for his old friend. After all, he had known Grievous since always… He quickly brushed away the feeling. He did not like this kind of weakness; it served no purpose.

"So, you are telling me that Organa didn't know about this boy?" Grievous asked.

"No, she did not. I felt the shock and the surprise in her."

"Interesting... And why do think that is?"

"That's what I need to figure out."

"Maybe she never came across him before."

"That's a very slim possibility. She has a daughter slightly younger than Anakin. I’m sure they have been at school events together before."

"Maybe not close enough for her to sense him." Grievous’s eyes glinted as he swirled the whisky with his long skinny fingers.

“That’s not possible. Everyone knows about everyone; we sense each other from great lengths and despite any nuisances.”

“But this boy is unlike any of us.” Grievous narrowed his eyes.

“Yes. And yet she could not sense him.”

Grievous clasped the crystal tumbler tighter, his head tilted slightly, and his eyes brightened up, “What if the boy did not want to be sensed until now?”

“He doesn’t even know who he really is and what that means. But he has been growing stronger.”

*

“Did you call her yet?” Armitage smiled as he kept his eyes focused on the road.

Despite the storm outside, Anakin was starting to regret getting a lift from Armitage. He’d picked up on earlier events - when Senator Organa had collected her hair dryer and Anakin had come back in all worked up - and was teasing Anakin about Padmé.

“Why would I call her?” Anakin looked out of the window.

“To go out with her, just the two of you. I mean, this is just a suggestion. You could just as well go talk to her the next time you see her at the Arcade or something.”

“I don’t have anything I need to tell her. I don’t see the point.”

“Oh man, you’re making that face again.” Armitage was staring at Anakin with a grin.

“What face? There’s nothing funny about my face.” They were now stopped at a red light and the rain was pouring heavily. Despite the deserted street, Anakin was still looking out through his window.

“Anakin, I don’t think that Motocross is her kind of thing. Or her friend’s kind of Saturday afternoon plan for that matter. You invited her and she went there to see you. You know that, so why are you afraid to make a move?”

Anakin lowered his eyes for a moment, then looked up at Armitage, who was now staring back at the road as the light turned green.

“So, you think it’s OK if I just call her like that?”

“Yes, of course, it’s fine.”

“Would you come with me if she wanted to bring her friend as well?” Anakin laughed.

“I’d rather be gagged with a spoon.”

Anakin chuckled.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It looks like Palpatine will be back on the Star Wars universe for Ep IX ;)


	6. Tatooine Arcade

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Do you know the boy that works for Palpatine?” Leia leaned forward.
> 
> “Which one of them?”
> 
> “The younger one. He’s one of us. But he is also different from us, in some way. I didn’t know about him until a couple of days ago. Have you known about him?”
> 
> Yoda lowered his eyes and whispered, “Skywalker…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you evilgrrl for all your support :)

Standing outside the doors, Anakin felt hot despite the freezing wind that whipped him and made a mess out of his gelled hair.

Ben had dropped Anakin off at the arcade’s entrance so his hair didn’t get ruined. Nevertheless, it was taking Anakin an eternity to gather the courage to open those doors and go in. He might as well have stayed with Ben in the car while he parked and walked in together.

Now Anakin decided that he actually would wait for Ben to find a parking space and join him before going in. It shouldn’t take much longer.

Because the parking lot was already packed, Ben had headed straight to the back of the building to park in one of the staff parking spots. The owner, Chewie, had told him that they could park there whenever they needed to, as a gesture towards Anakin’s repair skills. Over the years, Anakin had saved Chewie a considerable sum of money by fixing games on busy nights, allowing Chewie to have them back in working order within the hour. He would even get second hand parts whenever Chewie needed, usually for a great price. Chewie had always offered to pay for his help, but Anakin always declined and said that he liked to fix things anyway. So, Anakin and Ben always had a lot of credits to spend in the arcade and a guaranteed parking space.

Anakin knew that Padmé was already there. He could see Jade’s beater parked outside.

“All the guys will be here tonight anyway, as well as her friend,” he muttered to himself.

However, this was the first time that he had called her specifically to ask if she was going to be at the Arcade, even though he had already known she would be, because she was there every Friday night.

A strong gust of wind blew by him and shook the doors. He could see how messed up his hair was now by his reflection in the glass doors.

“This is ridiculous,” Anakin murmured. “Where’s Ben?” Another gust of wind blew past. Anakin pushed the doors open and went inside.

Straight away his eyes went to the area where the Pac-Man machines were. That was where Jade always was, with Padmé by her side. But they weren’t there now.

At the end of the row, he could see Chewie restarting one of the machines. It was easy to find him even when the arcade was packed. He was, like, 7 ft tall.

“Hi,” Anakin nodded as he passed by Chewie.

“Hi, kid. Where’s your brother tonight?”

“He’s parking in the back. Is that still ok with you?”

“Sure it is, kid. Your friends are over there playing foosball.” Chewie gestured to his left without taking his attention off the machine’s screen.

“Thanks, Chewie. See you later.”

Anakin made his way towards the area where the foosball tables were. He looked for Padmé, scanning the packed arcade as he went. No sign of her or Jade. As he heard familiar voices shouting and laughing, he turned towards his friends, but his eyes met Padmé’s as she was standing there, by his friends, looking at him with a smile that he knew so well and a warmth in her eyes that was completely new to him.

*

Leia took in the smell of old books as she walked through the narrow passages between book shelves.

The heavy rain and wind battered the windows of the library. There were only a handful of people left now.

Leia knew the library by heart. She had been brought here regularly by her mother since she was a baby and she continued visiting it regularly as she grew up, even after she was an adult and done with her studies.

The memories this place stirred up were endless and of all sorts. She had borrowed some of these books more than once. There were about a handful she had taken home so many times that she could still recollect an occasional stain, a sentence or two underlined by some inconsiderate reader, a ripped page…

However, tonight she wasn’t here to choose a book. She needed to talk with someone about what had happened earlier in the week.

Leia needed to know more about the boy. He had it too. He was one of them. But he was also different, somehow. There was something about him. Why she had never sensed him before?

Leia had asked to have a background check done on Anakin the same day she had seen him at the repair shop this week. He had been adopted by a local family when he was a child. She knew which family it had been because their first adopted child, also a boy, had been one of them. Both boys had been adopted, but were not related to each other as far as the official papers said. They had been born in different cities and to different parents, also unrelated. They both ended up being taken into care due to their parents’ death. Well, in Anakin’s case, there had only been the mother, no signs of the father. Nonetheless, both adoptive parents had been commoners.

She had always sensed it in the first boy. Why hadn’t she felt it in the second one? How was it that the same couple had been allowed to adopt two boys when they were only commoners? Surely they couldn’t have sensed it. Or could the’ve, somehow? Or had someone else made sure that it had happened?

So many questions that she couldn’t find answers for… That’s why she was here tonight.

“Visiting late, you are…” A wide-eyed smile greeted her from the top of a ladder.

“Mr. Yoda, how have you been?”

“Same old, same old…” Yoda swiftly jumped down the ladder, landing softly on his feet. “Too far, they are to me.” He grinned at Leia. He hadn’t even touched the steps to climb down the ladder.  
“I can see that.” Leia had a soft smile on her face. Seeing Yoda was always a heartwarming moment. He was the only one of them with whom she had kept a close relationship and would talk about subjects concerning their kind. Everyone else, she treated as if they were commoners, as did the others. That was the deal, after all.

Yoda grabbed his walking stick and trailed off toward a nearby door, his office. Leia watched his small curved frame limping. He hadn’t aged much since she first remembered him aging at all. He was more curved, and had just a few hairs left now, but overall he was not that different from what she recollected he was like during her childhood. Maybe it was his big hooded green eyes that diverted all the attention from his deeply wrinkled forehead. Or maybe it was his wit.

Yoda opened the door and pointed to a chair inside the office. Leia sat down promptly as Yoda closed the door behind him without even touching it. He jumped on his chair and looked at Leia “What brings you here today, at such a late hour?”

“Do you know the boy that works for Palpatine?” Leia leaned forward.

“Which one of them?”

“The younger one. He’s one of us. But he is also different from us, in some way. I didn’t know about him until a couple of days ago. Have you known about him?”

Yoda lowered his eyes and whispered, “Skywalker…”

*

As Ben was about to turn around the corner, Biff and Match appeared right in front of him.

“Hey, Kenobi, where’s your baby brother?” Biff asked. Match stood by his side with his arms crossed across his chest.

“What’s the matter today?” Ben stepped forward, folding his arms across his chest and staring Biff in the eyes.

Biff pointed his index finger towards Ben and walked forward. Match followed Biff, uncrossing his arms.

“We still need to talk about the race and what your brother -”

The next thing Ben knew, both Biff and Match were flying in the air and landing on the pile of garbage bags lining the back wall.

Ben followed their trajectory with his eyes, mouth agape in disbelief. Both Biff and Match landed face down on the wet waste bags, producing a flopping sound as they hit. They weren’t moving. Still, Ben knew they had only passed out and would be fine. He could tell that their vital signs were ok, and that the shock of the fall had been softened by the person who had caused it.

Ben looked up to see Maul just standing there, looking at him.


	7. Crash Landing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “What do you mean by archaic?” Grievous raised his eyebrows.
> 
> “Undeveloped… They seem to be quite basic to me,” Talzin said.
> 
> “How basic?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks you for being my Beta evilgrrl :)
> 
> I'm not updating as often as I promised because RL has been hectic… sorry about that. I just have to priorise tasks and setting up my own business is taking up all my time.  
> Thank you for keep following this story despite my slow pace. I'm really hoping that in August I will have time to publish most of it :)

“It’s not worth the risk,” Grievous shot a piercing look at Grand Moff Tarkin.

"The risk factor is minor here.” Tarkin kept looking through the viewport. “We will soon be able to get our hands on them. Their ship is damaged and losing power by the hour."

"Perhaps a small risk… Nevertheless, it remains a risk," Grievous replied.

They were standing right in the middle of the bridge. Some crew members were glancing at them discreetly.  
Grievous turned on his heel and made his way out swiftly. He did not agree with Tarkin’s decision of continuing chasing the lightsiders into the uncharted territories of the galaxy.

The light sider’s ship was much smaller in capacity. After being chased for three days, they were now using up the fuel from their emergency reserve. Most lights within their ship were turned off and Grievous knew that without the chance to refill somewhere, the ship had a maximum of a day left to keep running.

There was no place to refill a ship in these regions. There were no signs of intelligent life or habitable planets charted in here. This meant that the lightsiders had nowhere to escape.

Although his ship was in prime condition and the fuel reserves were still high, Grievous still felt uneasy about drifting into unknown territories. They should’ve just let the lightsiders roam deeper into this hostile region. They would all die sooner or later and the darksiders could just go about their lives with a big weight lifted from their shoulders, in the pleasant knowledge that their foes had lost a handful of high-ranking members.

They did eventually catch up with the lightsiders’ ship, a few hours later. This did not make Grievous feel any easier about the whole situation. He had a bad feeling about this. He needed to retreat to his cabin as soon as possible and meditate about these circumstances.

The main issue, in Grievous’ eyes, was the fact that, despite all his lifelong commitment and hard work, Tarkin remained just a commoner. He lacked the fundamental skills that only the enlightened have.

When Grievous reached the hangar, he found that Tarkin was beaming as much as his composed posture would allow him… Which was simply a glint in his eyes. As he oversaw the other ship being dragged into the hangar, Tarkin showed a hint of a smile on his face for a split second.

The smaller ship was made to stop and anchor. There was a whole regiment of troopers placed in strategic locations across the hangar and all the passengers were forced to leave the ship with their hands behind their heads and escorted to the Level 2, where the prisoners’ quarters were located.

As he made his way out of the hangar, Tarkin shoulder bumped Grievous.

“You will pay for this,” Grievous said to himself as he side eyed Tarkin.

*

As they’d predicted, the lightsider craft’s passengers and crew were a handful of prominent lightsiders, along with a few dozen of their own commoners.

They were all cramped in the small cubicle cell, as they largely outnumbered the capacity of the ship's prisoners’ quarters 

Soon this proved to be an unsustainable situation. Level 2 power started to oscillate, and a couple of cell doors unlocked and opened. This problem was promptly taken care of by the guards. However, nobody could get the power supply to stabilise.

"The prisoners are provoking it. Because the lightsiders are cramped into such a small area, they are working together so they can interfere with the power supplies that go to that level," Grievous said.

"Nothing that we can't fix," Tarkin replied. "Divert all non-essential power sources to reinforce Level 2," he directed from the bridge. 

Two officers by a nearby panel nodded before tapping their screens to punch in orders to other Levels. "All non-essential power sources are now directed to level 2,” an officer replied a minute later.

“Excellent,” Tarkin said.

*

To this day, nobody is entirely sure of what exactly happened next. 

All that Palpatine remembers are Grievous eyes gleaming in rage as he broke into his cabin and grabbed him by the arm.

“That useless excuse of a being has doomed us all.” Grievous spat as he struggled to open a panel door at the end of the corridor.

“My father will deal with him,” Palpatine replied, holding tight to the handle on the wall.

An alarm went off and red lights flashed.

“We need to leave this ship now!” Grievous looked back at Palpatine and again grabbed him by the arm and pushed him through the now open door.

They both darted through the corridor towards the escape pods while Grievous kept trying to contact others through his private comm.

“Mayday! Mayday! Mayday!” Grievous kept repeating at his comm device, but most comms were not replying.

As they turned around the corner, they came face to face with the lightsiders, who were trying to access the escape pods as well.

“You did this.” Grievous narrowed his eyes and tilted his head while reaching for his blaster.

“Locked in the cells we were, remember? Nothing we did,” Yoda replied as he pushed aside his cloak to show a blaster.

“You sabotaged with the power supplies. What is happening now is a direct consequence of that.”

The hiss of a sliding door opening diverted their attention and running footsteps filled the corridor behind the lightsiders. They all turned their heads; it was a group of darksiders lead by the Mauls.

Yoda turned back to Grievous. “listen up you must now. If survive this crash landing we want to, then team up we better. Enough for everyone those pods are. Our chances of survival out there are better the more survivors we are.”

Grievous walked towards the escape pod’s bay and looked through the small viewport. The planet underneath them was blue and green. That very likely meant it was life sustaining.

To the right he could see a bright light. The ship was disintegrating and catching fire as it entered the planet’s atmosphere.

They needed to leave right now. There was not time to wait or look for other crew members. It all had been sudden and chaotic… The ship had gotten into disarray immediately with all the communications being shut down within minutes. There was not a single reason or cause that Grievous could think of for such event. 

Nonetheless, right now there was no time to find any answers. It was time to leave immediately and make the best he could of this chance of survival. The lightsiders’ leader was right.

Grievous bent slightly to stare at Yoda at eye level. “You and I are taking the same pod,” he said in deep voice, eyes flashing with hatred, while waving his long index between the two of them.

Grievous had no idea if anyone had made it to the other pod bay. Or if those pods were even fully powered, ready to leave and able to land them safely.

Grievous looked at the lightsiders, then further behind them, at his own people who were now standing still and waiting for his orders.

“We will split both sides so there will be members of both in each pod.” Grievous commanded in a grave tone. “Now!”

He selected himself who was going with who on each pod.

Grievous, Palpatine, Yoda and the Organas were the last ones to leave the ship.

As soon as the escape pod ejected, it become clear that it wasn’t functioning well. The navigation system was down and couldn’t detect what type of atmosphere they were entering in order to adapt to it. Grievous had to enter it manually. Fortunately, his guess was accurate. In the distance, he could see that two of the other escape pods hadn’t been successful at figuring it out and simply burst into flames, like the mother ship above them.

When their pod stabilised, they all looked up in silence and observed the mother ship disintegrating into smaller burning parts. There would be very little of it left, if anything at all.

That side of the planet was in its night cycle. All pods were now weaving towards the land in sight, which was dotted with lights from what looked like cities by the shore line.

Grievous shoot a last look behind to see pieces of the mother ship falling in the endless dark ocean.

Following the emergency protocol instructions, all pods continued cruising at high altitude until they found a large deserted area where the likelihood of any intelligent life forms was slimmer. They had no idea what kind of beings inhabited this planet, they had to take all the precautions to be safe.

Soon enough, they found a large deserted region without any signs of life where they could safely land. Or rather not so safely, as Grievous’ pod couldn’t activate all the landing functions and it took all of them a huge amount of concentration and team work to make up for the faulty functions.

As they recovered from the shock of the violent fall, Palpatine looked at Grievous who was lifting himself off the floor with an openly bleeding brow. A sudden cackle diverted his attention. It was Yoda. Palpatine felt his disdain for the creature morph into hatred that same second. His feelings towards Yoda never subsided through the nearly five decades which followed that day.

*

As the single sun of this unknown planet rose the following morning, both sides counted their losses.

It turned out that it wasn’t only Grievous’ pod that had malfunctioned. Another handful of pods had needed their crews to team up in order to compensate for the malfunctions. The pods with commoners in them struggled to bring their navigation systems to stability and crash landed, causing dead and injured amongst both sides.

This wasn’t looking good.

They treated the injured as they could and buried the dead.

It wasn’t until late that afternoon that one of the surveying teams found the Tarkin’s escape ship. The Grand Moff had made it on time to his large and luxurious escape ship and all evidence pointed toward it landing safely. However, inside, Tarkin was found lifeless with three blaster wounds to his chest.

“You never looked so good to me as you look today. It suits you well,” Grievous muttered looking at Tarkin’s body sprawled on the floor. “Get him buried at once.” He gestured to the other darksiders standing outside the ship.

Once the others left with the body, Grievous proceeded to inspect the small ship in detail. The fuel reserve was totally empty, and he couldn’t even manage to get the emergency lights on. He spotted ripped cables and broken control panels all over. He found it odd. Signs of a fight? Whoever had been in the pod with Tarkin was now gone and there was no way to find out exactly what had happened in here.

This ship as well was as good as dead. All the use they could get from the pods and this ship was some shelter from the elements. 

Grievous searched for food, water and medicine supplies within the ship. He knew it well, including the concealed compartments. At least there was a good stock of food and water, and whisky… A total of six bottles of premium whisky, a connoisseur’s selection from the very best amongst what was produced in the Galaxy. 

“Thank you, Tarkin. This will make a fine start to my new collection.”

*

The following day, small teams composed of dark and lightsiders were sent on a reconnaissance mission.

When the first team came back a couple of days later, Grievous couldn’t decide if the news was bad or good.

“What do you mean by archaic?” Grievous raised his eyebrows.

“Undeveloped… They seem to be quite basic to me,” Talzin said.

“How basic?”

“Well, their most common transport means are sustained by wheels that roll directly on the ground, powered by some fossil carburant which releases toxic fumes straight into the atmosphere they breathe.” Talzin searched her backpack and produced a small jar. “This is what they use for pain relief.”

Grievous snatched the jar from Talzin. “How do you even administer this?” He narrowed his eyes. “What about space travel? Long distance communications?”

“The few communication devices that I saw had cables attached… And the only flying transport we saw in these last two days, that, is not making it out of the planet’s atmosphere for sure…” Talzin shook her head.

Both sides exchanged silent looks. It looked like they were stuck for good in a primitive planet.

*

Not all the teams made it back and a handful of injured perished due to lack of medicine and medical care.

After a few weeks they had decisions to make as it was becoming increasingly hard to get food and water supplies. 

The good news was that the only intelligible life form on this planet was humanoid like them. They would be able to mingle amongst them just fine.

They managed to retrieve technology supports in order to learn the local language and get familiar with the customs. It wasn’t very hard to get the hang of it and soon they were able to go for short visits in the nearest town to investigate more in-depth the locals and their endeavours.

It seemed that towards the shore, from which they had arrived when they landed, there were bigger cities and the temperatures were more pleasant all year round. The lack of climatization was making it difficult to them, it was too hot, and they weren’t used to enduring extreme weather conditions without proper technological supports.

Eventually, as the weeks passed, they decided that it was time to start a new life on this planet. They all adopted names that would sound more usual to the locals and chose cities in the coastal region to move in to. 

On their last day at the crash site they made sure that all that remained of the pods and been destroyed and buried and no traces were left on-site. 

At the sunrise of the following day, they took an oath to simply start a fresh, with a clean slate, and ignore each other whenever their paths would cross. 

They split into small groups just before arriving in town, making sure they took different transports to leave the city. 

Grievous and the Mauls decided to stay together and bring Palpatine with them to protect him as he was only a prepubescent child. A dark sider woman who was a few years older than Grievous joined them and they decided she would pass as his mother from that day on.

As Grievous watched the sun setting from the train window, he felt more uncomfortable than he’d ever felt before by the simple fact of travelling in this archaic transport they were on. He glanced at the Mauls, who were concealing their yellow eyes permanently now. They were very young and very strong, little more than teenagers. He didn’t know very well the woman who had joined them, but he knew she was a good dedicated dark sider as well. 

Palpatine. A strong boy full of potential. He belonged to one of the most oldest and most prominent lineages of darksiders. Grievous was glad that he had managed to save the boy from the crashing mother ship. He glanced at Palpatine and wondered if the boy’s family would manage to find them, someday, in this remote and uncharted region where their civilisation believed there were no life or resources worth looking for.


End file.
